Slashdot videos: Now with more Slashdot!

View

Discuss

Share

We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).

This is an interview with All Hands Active's Josh Williams. He shows us a project the group is doing in conjunction with Eastern Michigan University's Bright Futures Institute for the Study of Children, Families, and Communities. This is just one project, and maybe not the most exciting one they do, but it's something simple they can (and do) cart around to schools and other remote locations. They use a laser cutter for this simple project, not because it's really needed, Josh says, but because "any excuse to use a laser cutter is a good excuse."

It's not a fair. People don't go there to present but to make things. Makerspaces typically provide access to tools that are too expensive for individuals to buy just for themselves, like laser cutters, 3D printers or CNC mills.

Sorry, but "makerspace" is still a wank name. It's a communal workshop

First of all, I think the word "Makerspace" is ridiculous. That said, there's nothing to gain by demeaning anyone who doesn't fit your profile of a "true" scientist. And whether or not people know how it works (though I'd argue that they often do) is frankly irrelevant. You don't need to know how paint works to create a masterpiece, or why black powder burns so rapidly to create a rocket motor. Besides, hands-on experience is the best kind.

What's so bad about giving kids a space where all these creative tools exist and letting them just come in and see what they can come up with?

Yeah, 99% of the things that come out of there will be nothing special, but what if this "makerspace" enables the one kid in a million who has an actual gift for this and he comes up with something new and innovative?

The facility is primarily used by people within the ages of ~18 to ~30. However, we do a lot of work outside the space with younger groups. The space is open to all.

Some people who come down are interested in a pretty low level/assembly code understanding of the world. Others just want to know the easiest way to manipulate it. Either way, hopefully they can find some of the resources they need at, or through AHA!

Title: All Hands Active in Ann Arbor is a Makerspace for both Adults and KidsDescription: This is an interview with All Hands Active leader Josh Williams. He shows us a project the group is doing in conjunction with Eastern Michigan University's Bright Futures Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Communities.

[00:00] <TITLE>"Slashdot Visits the All Hands Active Makerspace in Ann Arbor, Michigan" appears over a view the interviewer, "Slashdot Editor Rob Rozeboom" as noted in the SlashdotTV logo bar.

[00:01] Rob>The folks at All Hands Active in Ann Arbor teach kids about science and technology through a variety of fun and interesting projects.Today they're gonna be building crossbows out of cardboard with the help of a laser cutter.

[00:12] <TITLE>A view of Josh Williams at the Makerspace with various hardware equipment in the background appears, with the Slashdot TV logo bar reading "Josh Williams @ All Hands Active 'Ann Arbor's Makerspace'".Throughout the interview, generic shots of people working on the aforementioned DIY crossbow are seen mixed in with this base shot.

[00:40] Josh>Today we're building laser-cut cardboard crossbows.We're using Inkscape - open source image editing software - combined with a full spectrum laser cutter to cut out pieces of cardboard in the shape of a crossbow.From there we use a combination of dowel rods, rubber bands, duct tape, hot glue to put those pieces together and build a simple - kind of nerf gun style - crossbow that shoots about 10 to 40 feet, depending on the tension of the rubber band.

[01:05] Rob>Can you just go through the steps to build the crossbow?

[01:09] Josh>Basically, the first step is designing in Inkscape the basic layout.We provide people with a simple template ink Inkscape, from there they modify things;This is a unicorn from a Deviant Art user - they're pretty awesome, they've got a bunch of really cool line art.We added that to the template.We then took that image file, loaded up on RetinaEngrave over here, and that allows you to change the power settings and speed settings.So we've got slightly different settings for cutting out the cardboard versus etching out the actual unicorn drawing.Once you've done that, you've got roughly 5 pieces here, 5 sections of cardboard, you sandwich them together, leaving a little bit of space for the trigger to move.Using just a standard wine cork, we're using a piece of metal out of a clothes hanger, and drinking straws and a rubber band and a dowel rod.So this is all stuff that you can get at a local hardware store, just things that you might have sitting around the house.Altogether the actual parts for this is probably less than a dollar, which is really, really awesome.You don't have to have a laser cutter to build this; we just.. any excuse to use a laser cutter is a good excuse.

[02:09] Rob>Sure!

[02:10] Josh>From there you attach the rubber bands, the dowel rod - the dowel rod just goes through a quarter inch hole here, tie rubber bands around, pull the rubber band back, pull the trigger, rubber band shoots forward, and you have a bolt here that launches - and that's usually just made out of a slightly larger drinking straw, slightly bigger dowel rod, which fit conveniently well inside pencil sharpe